Have Questions? Ask Yahoo!

Dear Yahoo!:

Are words ever removed from the dictionary?

Trevor
Alliston, Ontario, Canada

Good question Trevor!

If you (or your students) have questions, Ask Yahoo! or dig into the collective wonder that is the Yahoo! community knowledge pool over in Yahoo! Answers.

Adobe Youth Voices

Look what my friends at Macromedia, whoops I mean Adobe, are up to now...Adobe - Corporate Affairs/Community Relations: Adobe Youth Voices

Youth Voices is a global philanthropic concept designed to encourage youth to become actively involved in their communities through multimeda and digital tools. It's a collaborative effort with partners who share a common vision to better the world in which we live.

Years ago, when I first met my friends at Macromedia, it was through their partnership with The Wilderness Technology Alliance and Hands on the Land.

Wild Tech was a collaborative effort that provided skills that enhanced the lives of my at-risk students, not only through technology training, but additionally developing their self esteem. I'm so glad to see they are at it again- developing great projects like these for today's youth.

Visual Learning

Adding video to your curriculum is a powerful tool to use with the 'net generation'. Video imagery grabs the student's attention, gets the instructor's point across, engages students in a class discussion, sparks their imagination, helps them see a new perspective, and paints the world for visual learners.

Today students are so attuned to visual imagery its natural to use images to enhance your curriculum. Use video across the curriculum in traditional classrooms or upload clips to your online classes.

Video also works well for modeling. For example, if there is a procedure you need to model such as a 'search and seizure' procedure for a criminal justice course, video would be a great way to exhibit the procedure.

What about modeling in nursing for the proper method to handle a bed-ridden patient or for education courses where a student teacher needs to see how to properly handle crisis' situations? The possibilties for videos in education is endless.

Check out eSchool News online: "Visual Learning" for a collection of visual resources.

What is Metacognition? Deep thinking & social media

One thing about living on a tropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that you can count on is the late arrival of mail. I just received May 2006 Phi Delta Kappan and read “What is Metacognition?”

Author Michael Martinez states that metacognition is not just simply “thinking about thinking,” but rather the ‘monitoring and control of thought.”

He goes on to talk about Vygotsky’s theory of higher-order thought in which Vygotsky taught us that higher-order thinking begins simply as social discourse, or conversations, and these conversations internalize over time and experience.

The internalizations of these social interactions allow us to process thought, weigh opinions, debate within our own minds, finally problem solving by selecting and making good decisions. Though Socratic dialogue in face-to-face classrooms is not new, online learning environments are.

How can we incorporate metacognitive activities in online learning using social media tools?

Central to higher-order thinking and metacognition are student interactions such as, conversations and dialogues that take place everyday in face-to-face classrooms. But how are metacognitive activities being incorporated in online learning?

By the same methods, dialogues and conversations, only online. Identifying teaching strategies that encourage metacognition to cultivate critical thinking skills and problem solving is an important aspect for online learning.

Most, if not all, Learning Management Systems (LMS) have discussion forums in course modules to provoke higher-order thinking by teasing out ideas, concepts and learning online.

Online faculty should make use of forums and threaded discussions, such as Yahoo! Groups to promote deeper thought about subject matter and guide learners to think critically. Sometimes they can be a 'fly-on-the wall' and at others they need to take the drivers seat to guide learning along.

Conversations in online environments can also utilize many new social media tools widely accepted by the new ‘wired generation.’

How does this ‘constantly-on” generation have conversations? Just take a look at any young person glued to their cell phone. Instant messaging, text messages, My Space, YackPack and Tapped In are a few tools to use in online courses.

Young adults have a need to be connected, to conversate in new ways; so why not use familiar tools that can easily be incorporated into WebCt- Blackboard or Moodle courses.

Find media tools students are using and adapt them to use in your online courses, you might be surprised how much conversation and deeper thought goes into your course.

Open Content, eBooks & the Digital Library

A couple days ago, Maryanne posted about the recent Google Book Search release of the complete works of William Shakespeare. After reading her post, a member of the BlendedEdu community, directed our attention to an alternative to Google Books.

Bookyards is an open content eBook and Digital Library portal with "10,101 books, 22,141 web links, 3,941 news & blogs links and access to hundreds of online libraries (200,000 eBooks) for your reading pleasure."

In his comment on our blog, Victor points out that Bookyards also has a digital collection of Shakespeare's writings. It's great to see that there is such a growing interest in digital libraries.

And I for one am very supportive of any movement that opens content, knowledge and education to as many people as possible. I also acknowledge and appreciate people like Victor (and the Google Books team) who put in the hard work of creating digital library portals and digitize books.

I'd also encourage Google to work through some of their issues and find a way to work in a collaborative matter with organizations like Microsoft, Yahoo!, The Open Content Alliance (OCA), The Center for Open and Sustainable Learning (COSL), and Bookyards in creating a truly open and equitable solution for creating a Digital Library on the web.

Web Resources

• Bookyards
• Google Books & Shakespeare
• Open Content Alliance
• COSL

Learning in the Information Age

"Information is not knowledge." ~ Albert Einstein

Yahoo! Widgets: Spelling, Math, and History, Oh My!

via Yahoo! Widgets: "Spelling Bee is a nifty stand alone tool for people who like to use big words. Just type in a word, and if it's not a word in the dictionary, the Spelling Bee widget will make some suggestions.

It also features auto-copy, auto-checking, and a couple different visual styles. You can use Spelling Bee with many different languages."

What a fantastic, fun, and engaging way to help students expand their vocabulary! Spelling Bee is a great widget for students and teachers alike!

When I'm working on my research articles, I've been known to give Spelling Bee a whirl! And you know what? It's really handy!

But don't stop with just spelling. The Yahoo! Widgets community has created handy tools to help kids with math, music, and history. And more and more widgets are being added every day.

So, take a walk on the wild side: try, or create and share your own, educational Yahoo! Widget today!

iEARN: The Global School House

International Education and Resource Network (iEARN): "Started in 1988, iEARN is the world's largest non-profit global network that enables teachers and young people to use the Internet and other new technologies to collaborate on projects that both enhance learning and make a difference in the world."

What a fantastic organization! Their 13th International iEARN World Conference and Youth Summit, July 3-7, 2006, will be hosted by iEARN-Netherlands in Enschede, the Netherlands.

mLearning Toolbox: BuddyBuzz Update!

via the Hive: "We have been hard at work on a version of BuddyBuzz that has dynamic menus that will eventually allow you to completely customize the content that you read with BuddyBuzz.

We're happy to announce that this version is ready to be downloaded! We have some more great ideas in the works, and need your help to continue to improve BuddyBuzz."

BuddyBuzz has several mLearning applications, including the ability to serve as a content delivery system. Instructors can upload articles directly to their BuzzBox and then share them with students in their BuddyBuzz community.

Best of all, since BuddyBuzz is a mobile based technology, it allows students to have anytime, anywhere, customized, on-demand learning opportunities.

As mobile technologies and mLearning become more ubiquitous, applications like BuddyBuzz may be the catalyst needed to expand learning opportunities for tech savvy students via mobile phones, PSP, or other web-enabled handheld devices.

Web Resources

• BuddyBuzz
• Persuasive Technology Lab
• BlendedEdu + mLearning
• mLearning 2006 Conference
• BuddyBuzz + BlendedEdu

Shakespeare Online

USA Today via Reuters: "Google has launched a site especially for Shakespeare's work to allow users to peruse all his works online. The site allows users to search for key words or phrases form these great wokrs and to read the entire work online.

It is housed in the Google Book Search site that also has many of Shapespeares's books as well as other books for you to purchase."

This is a gem of a site for curriculum development, putting these works and many more right at an eductor's fingertips. So be sure to bookmark it !

Virtual Summer School

Virtual Summer School: "Not everyone is in “school's out for the summer” mode. This summer, more than 600 students are taking one of the 12 online courses offered by the Mississippi Department of Education's Virtual School." (via)

Digital Library Toolbox: Stephen Leary is 'The Reflective Librarian'

The Reflective Librarian: I recently found this gem of a blog that is focused on digital libraries, open content, eBooks, and information (overload).

Kudos to Steve for his spot on analysis and commentary!

mLearning Toolbox: Mobile Social Software, Gen Y & Digital Learning Styles

As the first generation to be raised with the Internet, Gen Y has an intuitive ability to use ICT as a means to foster, support, discuss and explore new ideas. As a result, a multi-faceted approach that blends current learning theory, social technologies, and web-enabled mobile devices are the most effective in designing online learning environments.

For example, students can utilize mobile and/or social networking technologies to contribute using related stories, personal experiences, anecdotes and questions to reflect and actively encourage others to contribute as well.

The interactive, collaborative, engaging social activities, combined with the ability to self-publish and remix content on the web, enable students to use technology as a vehicle for presenting and sharing their own work as well as provide feedback on contributions made by other students.

Moreover, due to the wide variety and availability of social software, students are able to choose from multiple formats including text, video, audio, or photos to find the tools that best support their own learning style, interests, and goals.

A recent study by the Irish National Teachers Organization (INTO) found that students are using their mobile phones for just about everything--except making phone calls. According to INTO, only 20% of the 671 students surveyed report using their mobiles to make phone calls, whereas 81% report using their mobile to communicate via text or IM messages.

The INTO survey seems to dovetail with the results of a 2005 Pew Internet and American Life study on teens and technology. Like their peers in Ireland, American youth preferring using IM or TM for everyday conversations with friends.

Other key findings from the Irish National Teachers Organization survey:

• 96% of 11 & 12 year old students have a mobile phone
• 60% have a camera on it
• 72 % say they use it to access the Internet
• 20% use it to make calls
• 81% use it to send texts

Recognizing the growing connection between mobile media and youth, the popular social networking community MySpace has teamed with Helio to provide a mobile version that includes access to Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, and various Yahoo! services.

The combination of social interaction with opportunities for peer support and collaboration creates an interesting, engaging, stimulating, and intuitive learning environment for students. Effective course design will need to blend traditional pedagogy with the reality of the media multitasking Gen Y learner.

Clearly, the nearly ubiquitous use of portable media devices on the college campus has provided instructors with a unique opportunity to design mobile learning environments and new innovative pedagogical approaches built around the increasingly mobile landscape.

Web Resources

• Learning Styles 2.0: Digital, Social, and Always-On
• CBS News > GenTech: The Wiring of Teen America
• Wikipedia > MoSoSo
• BlendedEdu + Mobile Technology
• BlendedEdu + Social Software

Sphere

I read the other day that people don't really want search engines, they want answer engines. Right, we search to find answers to learn more about certain topics and since learning is a social activity in which "we learn from the company we keep" it's only natural we search the web to find out what others are saying about what we want answers for.

Today I found Sphere and it seems that search engines have shifted into that direction. Simply type in a word to search and Sphere will produce results showing what bloggers are saying about it.

For example, I typed in ESL and got back 347 blogs that Sphere found today that had posted information about ESL. I scrolled down and found EFL:Geek's post about "Vocabulary Learning Through Roleplay" which is a great activity to share with ESL Instructors to use in their classes.

To make your 'sphere' simpler you can even add The Sphere It! Bookmarklet on your toolbar to make it easier to find blog posts that relate to what you're reading on the Web.

It's social learning in a new Sphere.

Tabblo.beta

Tabblo.beta is another slick, new web-based tool to share media and share stories with colleagues and students.

Give it a try with your photos from your summer travels to tell your story to your students in the fall. Might just spark some good classroom conversation.

CBS News Report: Gen Y & Technology

GenTech & The Wiring of Teen America: "On June 13, CBS News will begin a three-day series of reports on the intersection of teenagers and technology. Through the use of multimedia, we will examine how teens are using technology and what that technology is doing to them.

Each day of the series will include several offerings around a central theme. On the first day, we will present an overview on teen habits and explore the high-tech gear they are using. We will show how MySpace and Friendster work, what games teens are playing and how the latest cell-phone features are attracting teen users.

We also will release the results of an exclusive CBSNews.com poll on how technology is being used in teens' daily lives."

Web Resources

• Learning Styles 2.0: Digital, Social, and Always-On
• Listening to Student Voices on Technology
• BlendedEdu + Net Generation

Online Community and Identity in Virtual Learning Environments

To those unfamiliar with the social dynamics of virtual learning environments, the online classroom may seem like a neutral environment devoid of human interaction, structure, or emotion.

Despite these assumptions, online instructors and course designers should be aware that students will develop an identity within an online learning community that is both individual and collective.

As students collaborate they form social ties, which in turn, motivates them to establish an identity within the group via active participation and contributions to the collective knowledge pool.

While it may run counter to traditional learning enivronments, teachers in the online space must learn to "step back" and provide students with the "breathing room" required for them to create and form bonds within the online learning community.

In doing so, it allows students to learn in social setting with peers, remain engaged in the topic, receive interaction feedback from peers, and also meets their need for feedback.

In addition, collaborative and interactive projects undertaken in a community structure allow students to interact with other members of the class, identify who has a particular skill or expertise they want to acquire, and provides opportunities for them to model and scaffold this knowledge with their peers.

According to Papert, these types of virtual learning environments allow students to explore and negotiate their understanding of the course content and find ways for the learning to develop a sense of intellectual identity. Through this process learners become motivated on an individual level, as well as fostering a sense of accountability to the group to continue to participate.

The learner in an online community is constructing a base of knowledge on both and individual and group level. As their personal understanding of the subject deepens learners are motivated to contribute to the collective understanding and receive positive feedback from the group.

Anthropologist Lori Kendall, who spent almost two years researching the dynamics of online social identity and community, concluded that members of virtual environments have "intact social systems, and highly charged social relations."

However, unlike the electronic window of television, Kendall found that members of an online community feel that when they connect to an online forum, they enter a social, if not physical space (Kendall, 1999).

In this new digital age, we need to redefine our concept of what constitutes a legitimate “social system” or “social interaction.” In many ways, the effective use of social media to support instruction provides the same or better quality of socialization than a traditional classroom.

If we are truly to expand educational opportunities via online or distance learning programs, we will need to recognize and validate the existence of online communities, relationships, and interaction.

Making mLearning Work: Gen Y, Learning and Mobile Technologies

Making mLearning Work: Utilizing mobile technology for active exploration, collaboration, assessment, and reflection in higher education

Mercedes Fisher, PhD.
National College of Ireland

Derek E. Baird, M.A
Educational Technologist

Abstract

The convergence of mobile technologies into student centered learning environments requires academic institutions to design new and more effective learning, teaching, and user experience strategies.

In this paper we share results from a mLearning design experiment and analysis from a student survey conducted at the National College of Ireland. Quantitative data support our hypothesis that mLearning technologies can provide a platform for active learning, collaboration, and innovation in higher education.

In addition, we review mobile interface and user-experience design considerations, and mLearning theory. Finally, we provide an overview of mLearning applications being developed in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland including, Virtual Graffiti, BuddyBuzz, Flickr, and RAMBLE.

Keywords:

mLearning, social software, mobile, Flickr, BuddyBuzz, RAMBLE, Gen Y, mobile interface design, mobile user-experience design, user generated content, community generated content, rapid serial visual presentation, mobile learning theory, Ireland, Yahoo, Google, Tivo, PSP, iPod, open source education, YouTube, Claroline, National College of Ireland

Geography 2.0: Google Maps Mashup Mania

WikiMapia is a "wiki meets Google Maps" mashup intended to be used as a digital geographic encyclopedia reference tool. In its current incarnation, WikiMapia is a little rough around the edges, but keep this site on your list of potential teaching tools.

Here's how WikiMapia works: Key landmarks, such as Rainbow Arch in Utah, the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, or the Pyramid of the Moon in Mexico, are identified on the map. Each landmark has a Flickr type notation (this is the wiki part) which anyone can edit or contribute information related to that landmark.

Placeopedia is an open source mashup of Google Maps and Wikipedia. Using this site, students can connect existing Wikipedia articles with their corresponding location on the map, and then make use of the community generated database to "browse, use, or syndicate the whole lot."


Web Resources

• Digital Geography
• Google Maps
• National Geographic Society > My Wonderful World
• BlendedEdu + Geography
• GeoYacking Powered by YackPack

BUBBLESHARE

BUBBLESHARE, a photo sharing service, is a creative way to share your story with others by combining voice and photos to create story albums. Think of the ways BUBBLESHARE can be used in your curriculum, face-to-face or online.

For example, an Art Instructor can upload photos for an Art History or Studio course. Adding voice makes this the perfect addition to an online course- just provide the story album to your students in your Moodle, WebCT/Blackboard course site and they can listen and view your series of photos for your daily assignments. Or use your story album in class from your laptop to get the daily discussion going. Again, wouldn't this make a great online discussion forum?

Think about English Learners and what this can add to your curriculum either in face-to face classes or for learning English online. As a matter of fact, this would work well for learning any language, online or face-to-face.

Next, think about Social Studies, Sciences, and even Math! Photos of the Pyramids or the Emerald Buddha would be great sparks for students Math lessons. Share photos from your own travels or use photos from shared sources in your album; not copyrighted ones, of course.

It's often said that, "A picture is worth a thousand words", but when used in your curriculum photo albums can spark students with thousands of thoughts to construct learning through visual, collaborative dialogue.